A hard drive assessing method and a hard drive assessing system supporting a maximum transmission rate of a hard drive are provided, wherein the hard drive is accessed by a controller, and both the controller and the hard drive support a plurality of transmission rates. The maximum transmission rate of the hard drive is first obtained. When the controller reads data from the hard drive, the transmission rate of the controller is set to be not lower than the maximum transmission rate, and the transmission rate of the hard drive is maintained at the maximum transmission rate. When the controller writes data into the hard drive, the transmission rate of the controller is reduced to be lower than the maximum transmission rate, and the transmission rate of the hard drive is maintained at the maximum transmission rate. Thereby, the hard drive can be accessed at its maximum transmission rate.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A hard drive assessing method supporting a maximum transmission rate of a hard drive, suitable for accessing data in the hard drive by using a controller, wherein both the controller and the hard drive support a plurality of transmission rates, the hard drive assessing method comprising: obtaining the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive; setting a transmission rate of the controller, wherein the transmission rate of the controller is higher than the maximum transmission rate and the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive is maintained to read the data in the hard drive; and reducing the transmission rate of the controller to a slower transmission rate lower than the maximum transmission rate and maintaining the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive to write data into the hard drive.
2. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive comprises: issuing an identify command to the hard drive to query the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive when a host is turned on.
3. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 1 , wherein after the step of obtaining the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive, the hard drive accessing method further comprises: determining whether the maximum transmission rate is equal to a predetermined transmission rate; and if the maximum transmission rate is equal to the predetermined transmission rate, filling a value corresponding to a slower transmission rate lower than the predetermined transmission rate into a mode control register of the controller, and broadcasting an advanced configuration & power interface source language (ASL) code to notify an operating system of the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive.
4. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 3 , wherein after the step of filling the value corresponding to a slower transmission rate lower than the predetermined transmission rate and broadcasting the ASL code, the hard drive assessing method further comprises: the operating system entering a power management mode; receiving an access signal issued by the hard drive by using the controller; issuing a power management event (PME) to a power management unit for waking up a processor by using the controller; and restoring the operating system back into a normal operation mode.
5. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 3 , wherein the value filled into the mode control register for controlling the controller originally is ignored when the controller reads the data in the hard drive.
6. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of maintaining the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive to read the data in the hard drive comprises: notifying an operating system of the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive.
7. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of reducing the transmission rate of the controller to the slower transmission rate lower than the maximum transmission rate and maintaining the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive to write the data into the hard drive comprises: reducing the transmission rate of the controller to the slower transmission rate which is one level lower than the maximum transmission rate, wherein both the controller and the hard drive support multiple levels of transmission rates.
8. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of reducing the transmission rate of the controller to the transmission rate lower than the maximum transmission rate to write the data into the hard drive comprises: the controller being controlled by a value filled into a mode control register.
9. The hard drive assessing method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of maintaining the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive to write the data into the hard drive comprises: notifying an operating system of the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive, such that an asynchronous access environment is established.
10. A hard drive accessing system supporting a maximum transmission rate of a hard drive, comprising: the hard drive, supporting a plurality of transmission rates comprising a maximum transmission rate; and a controller, supporting the transmission rates, connected to the hard drive through a transmission interface, wherein a transmission rate of the controller higher than the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive is set and the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive is maintained to read data in the hard drive through the controller, and the transmission rate of the controller is reduced to a slower transmission rate lower than the maximum transmission rate and the maximum rate of the hard drive is maintained to write data into the hard drive through the controller, such that an asynchronous access environment is established.
11. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 , wherein when a host is turned on, the host issues an identify command to the hard drive through the controller to query the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive.
12. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 further comprising a mode control register, wherein the hard drive accessing system further determines whether the maximum transmission rate is equal to a predetermined transmission rate, and if the maximum transmission rate is equal to the predetermined transmission rate, the hard drive accessing system fills a value corresponding to a slower transmission rate lower than the predetermined transmission rate into the mode control register and broadcasts an advanced configuration & power interface source language (ASL) code to notify an operating system of the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive.
13. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 further comprising a processor and a power management unit, wherein after an operating system enters a power management mode, the controller further receives an access signal from the hard drive and sends a power management event (PME) to the power management unit to wake up the processor and restore the operating system back to a normal operation mode.
14. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 , wherein when the transmission rate of the controller higher than the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive is set to read the data in the hard drive, the controller is not controlled by a value filled into a mode control register.
15. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 , wherein when the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive is maintained to read the data in the hard drive, an operating system is notified of the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive.
16. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 , wherein when the transmission rate of the controller is reduced to the slower transmission rate lower than the maximum transmission rate to write the data into the hard drive, the controller is controlled by a value filled into a mode control register.
17. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 , wherein the transmission rate of the controller is reduced to the slower transmission rate which is one level lower than the maximum transmission rate, and both the controller and the hard drive support multiple levels of transmission rates.
18. The hard drive accessing system according to claim 10 , wherein when the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive is maintained to read the data from the hard drive, an operating system is notified of the maximum transmission rate of the hard drive.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
April 1, 2009
January 31, 2012
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.